With the rise of mobile computing, devices such as cellular telephones, tablet computers, and e-book readers, have become a ubiquitous part of everyday life. However, the ability to access the Internet from these devices also brings the various dangers of the Internet to these devices. Untrusted sources for mobile applications may offer malicious applications for download. Furthermore, trusted sources, such as digital distribution platforms (or “application stores”) for some mobile platforms may sometimes inadvertently host malware.
Additionally, legitimate applications without malware may pose privacy concern to users. For example, some mobile computing platforms may provide installed applications access to potentially sensitive device data and user data (as well as access to various other features of the mobile computing platforms). Traditional systems for controlling applications' access to sensitive data and features have included a permissions scheme that requires an application to have a permission for each potentially sensitive feature of a mobile computing platform that a given application wishes to access. These traditional systems may display which permissions an application requires (e.g., at the time of installation), allowing users to accept the required permissions list and install the application or refuse the required permissions list and forgo installing the application. Unfortunately, these traditional systems may require users to make potentially undesirable tradeoffs when deciding whether or not to install applications. Some users may wish to install and use an application without worrying about how the application might exploit the permissions that it requires. Furthermore, users may soon lose track of which applications are exploiting which permissions.
Accordingly, the instant disclosure identifies and addresses a need for additional and improved systems and methods for providing controls for application behavior.